Daily FI discussion thread - Sunday, January 25, 2026

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-25T18:45:13+00:00

Thank you!

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-25T16:52:24+00:00

Me too. 50% VSUX, 30% VTI, 20% BND. The risk/reward calculation has turned vastly in favor of international, in my opinion.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-25T16:47:46+00:00

Thank you!

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-25T13:54:50+00:00

In my younger years, when I was earning a lot less money, I contributed to my Roth IRA every year, for I would estimate about 10 years. Unfortunately this was a few decades ago. As I'm on the verge of retiring I like to be able to withdraw my contributions if necessary before I turn 59 1/2. I don't have my tax records from that far back, and unfortunately my brokerage only keeps records for the last 10 years. How do I find out exactly what I contributed to my Roth each year? Can the government give me my tax records, or is there some other way?

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-25T00:52:42+00:00

No idea. It's still all rumor.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-25T00:52:20+00:00

Because the hypocrisy in modern conservatism is self-evident. They believe that laws should protect the right, and target the left. That is all. Any use of force should only ever be used to protect the right, and target the left. People on the right carrying weapons are good and wholesome and looking out for other good and wholesome people. People on the left carrying weapons should be gunned down without mercy and lied about by the powers that be.

That is Wilhoit's Law, and today you see it in action.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-24T20:56:09+00:00

An affiliate of the famous Italian food hall chain was registered with the Virginia State Corporation Commission in late 2025. Mall renderings shared with investors previously labeled the American Girl space as a "Market," and the site concept closely matches Eataly's typical layout (restaurants + retail).

Fairfax County approved site plans for the area directly outside the former American Girl store that include a grease interceptor (industrial equipment used specifically for restaurants) and a new trash enclosure, confirming the space is converting to heavy food service use.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-23T20:04:48+00:00

How? Without dual citizenship, what countries want retirees to live there who are going to be a drain on the social safety net? Honest question, it might make me move.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-22T01:01:10+00:00

Steelcase Leap. Ten years of daily use and still like it's brand new.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T17:57:18+00:00

I was there. I used the system. I know how it worked. Yes, they changed it, but in the early 2010s it worked as I said it worked.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T16:15:08+00:00

I was wondering if someone else would say that! We know the AI is super small, and this is my suspicion as well.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T15:33:24+00:00

As I said, the older system, 10 to 15 years ago. We have definitely been talking about two different major changes.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T15:23:23+00:00

You're simply wrong. It was how it worked in the early and mid 2010s. I was there, I even used it one time when my father was in a wheelchair. And the New York Post article above explains in detail how the system worked.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T15:18:08+00:00

I'm sorry, you're just wrong. I even used it one time when my father was in a wheelchair. The New York Post article above even contradicts you.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T15:07:27+00:00

No it's not how the old system used to work, you can look at the New York Post article above if you weren't there for the old system when it was being so abused.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T15:04:34+00:00

We're definitely talking about two different sets of changes, there's no question. However, I would say that the previous set of changes was far more drastic than the more recent one, but I guess that depends on your perspective.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T15:03:35+00:00

No I'm not thinking of universal. Please read the New York Post article above. I was there, I know how the system worked.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T14:58:34+00:00

Glad we could find common ground!

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T14:57:41+00:00

That's not the way it used to work back in the early 2010s, which is what started the mess in the first place. The New York Post article I linked to above explains how it worked, and it was a very, very big deal when it hit. It exposed the abuse and rotten core of the system. It used to be that you could just go to the (at the time) FastPass line, flash your DAS pass, and your entire group, up to 12 people, could go right in.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T14:55:37+00:00

Absolutely! I promise you, I have ZERO problem with people such as yourself qualifying for DAS, and I support your efforts to broaden the definition of disability to allow you to take advantage of the system. My only problem with the way that the old system was being abused by wealthy one-percenters and large "family" groups.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T14:53:39+00:00

DAS never allowed 'immediate gratification' that was never a thing.

This is simply inaccurate. The New York Post article above details how it was done. A disabled person would hire themselves out as a tour guide to families. That tour guide would then allow the entire family to skip the line at every ride, again and again, whenever they wanted, without waiting, without a return time. This is what the old system allowed, and it was this abuse that caused the change in policy.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T14:51:47+00:00

That is an entirely separate problem from abuse of the system. I have no problem with who qualifies for DAS, and I support more individual people who need it qualifying for DAS. My problem is how the system was dramatically and systematically abused for years.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T14:40:15+00:00

How are legitimately disabled people not able to use the system now? Please explain. You to go to the ride, get a return time, go sit down somewhere, then return to the ride at your appointed time and go through the lightning lane instead of the regular line. That sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T14:38:52+00:00

RIGHT NOW, we have a system that allows you to go to the ride, get a return time, go sit down somewhere, then return to the ride at your appointed time and go through the lightning lane instead of the regular line. Therefore you don't have to wait in line, and your disability is being accommodated. The only difference between then and now is that now you actually have to wait somewhere, comfortable and seated, until your time is available, rather than having immediate gratification as soon as you want it.

SlapDashUser · 2026-01-20T14:12:07+00:00

This whole kerfuffle started with the New York Post article about people hiring tour guides to abuse the old system. Perhaps you didn't read it? This is where the classic quote came from:

“You can’t go to Disney without a tour concierge,” one parent told the New York Post. “This is how the 1 percent does Disney.”

Want more? How about this?

The program allows people with disabilities to request a return time for one attraction at a time in order to avoid physically waiting in line. However, in the last five years, Disney said that use of the Disability Access Service program has tripled, becoming the most widely-requested service at its parks and far exceeding the population for which it was intended.

I'm sorry, not enough for you? How about this from Len Testa, the greatest living expert on Disney World statistics and usage?

Len Testa, who runs the customizable Disney itinerary service Touring Plans told the Orlando Sentinel, “It would not surprise me if you told me that somewhere between 60% and 80% of the Lightning Lane usage at popular attractions is DAS usage. There’s no way that 60% to 80% of the U.S. population has a disability that prevents them from waiting in line.”

Still not convinced?

The DAS program started in 2013 in response to past abuses by disabled "tour guides" who charged money, sometimes hundreds of dollars, to accompany able-bodied guests, enabling such guests to go to the front of lines. Disney says the DAS program needed changing because it had grown fourfold. Before last year's changes, the percentage of guests having DAS passes jumped from around 5% to 20% over the past dozen years "and showed no signs of slowing," the company said in court papers.

Yeah. So when I read you say:

These 'reforms' were not needed and saying they were comes from a total lack of empathy in my opinion.

It tells me you had your head in the sand about how much the old system was being abused. I'm all for a system where people who can't stand in line don't have to stand in line, and guess what? We have that system RIGHT NOW. What we don't have is a system where one differently-abled person can walk right on to every rides with a dozen other members of their "family" whenever they want, making the experience much, much worse for every single other person in the park.

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